2015 – A Giant Leap for Womankind (Part 2)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 4 2016 (IPS) - Against the backdrop of escalating extremism and conflict globally, 2015 also marked the 15th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security (WPS ) with a Global Study and Review on its effective implementation strongly addressing the impact of conflict on women and their essential role in conflict prevention, peacemaking and peace building. The landmark UNSC resolution 2242 (October 2015) calls for effective and accelerated implementation of the WPS Agenda by all actors.

Lakshmi Puri

It resolves to systematically integrate resolution 1325 and its implementation in its own work, to dedicate periodic Council consultations on country situations to WPS implementation review to ensure Security Council missions take into account gender considerations and women’s rights.

It also reinforces the UN’s WPS Architecture and emphasizes UNWOMEN’s coordination and accountability building role. In the light of violent terrorism’s targeting and impact on women and girls human rights, WPS will be a cross-cutting subject in all thematic areas of work of the Council including on countering terrorism.

The Climate Agreement adopted at the Conference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris 2015 was a breakthrough. It specifically commits all Parties when taking climate action to respect, promote and consider their obligations on human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment and to ensure that their adaptation and capacity building policies and actions are gender responsive.

This, and the fact that there are 50 COP decisions on gender responsive climate action to implement, signals commitment that all aspects of climate action including mitigation, finance and technology development and transfer, data and monitoring and the implementation of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) will be gender responsive.

UNWOMEN organized a number of Global Thematic Beijing plus 20 and 2030 Agenda events and carried out a Step it up for Planet 50/50 by 2030 Advocacy Campaign. The climactic event was on 27 September in New York. Alongside the Agenda 2030 Summit, UN Women convened with the Government of China—the first ever—Global Leaders’ Commitment Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

It was co-chaired by President Xi Jinping of China and the UN Secretary-General, and later by UNWOMEN Executive Director with other heads of state. 140 countries participated and nearly 70 Heads of State and Government vowed to “step it up” by taking concrete actions to implement the Beijing Platform and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for women and girls. Since then, other heads of state and governments have made commitments, which are now reflected on the UNWOMEN website and in a Book of Commitments and being tracked and followed up.

UN Women convened a Forum of private and Philanthropy leaders to galvanize support for implementation of Beijing and SDGs especially SDG5 and raise resources. Three major Civil Society meetings were convened in 2015 – Intergenerational Dialogue, Thought Leaders Meeting and the Global Dialogue to strategize on translating the enormous normative and advocacy gains made into impact on the ground and on dealing with challenges they face. Both civil society organisations (CSOs) and the private sector are critical actors and partners in the journey towards achieving the SDGs.

Beyond these milestone events, three other intergovernmental fora evoked highest level political commitment to gender equality with consistent advocacy and substantive support by UNWOMEN. The G7 Summit in Elmau under the Presidency of Germany and Chancellor Merkel committed to focus on expanding and supporting economic empowerment opportunities for women in developing countries, the G20 under the presidency of President Erdogan of Turkey launched the Women 20 Engagement Group, held a W20 Summit and the G20 Antalya Summit adopted a comprehensive action plan for women’s economic empowerment participation and leadership.

At the initiative of President Coleiro Preca of Malta, the first ever Women’s Forum was launched at the Commonwealth Summit to foster cooperation in implementing gender equality commitments. 2015 was a pivotal year for global resolve to act for the unqualified normative success of the Gender Equality Project, with member states, civil society, and private sector making profound commitments at the highest level.

Looking ahead, it is imperative that we “localize” the SDGs, and other normative commitments. Localization demands that all development strategies, policies and programs, constitutions and laws of all countries be aligned with the gender equality commitments in the SDGs and they be made central to all aspects of decision-making, and implementation. UNWOMEN’s Flagship Programme Initiatives seek to support this localization.

Member states will need to remain faithful to the prioritization of gender equality in 2030 Agenda and follow an ‘all of government’ and ” all of society ” approach, including a strong role for gender equality mechanisms to help drive evidence-based implementation and gender responsive monitoring of the SDGs and transparent consultative mechanisms, which include the women’s movement and civil society. Also gender data requirements will require significant investments and capacity-building of statistical systems. Transformative Financing for gender equality must be deployed.

It is unfortunate that patriarchy is too deep rooted and pervasive to be immediately vanquished by these normative resolves. Instances of horrific inhuman treatment, violence and denial of basic rights of women and girls – the mob lynching of Farkhunda and stoning to death of Rokhsahana, the kidnapping and enslavement of Chibok girls, the rapes and sexual assault of young women in schools, campuses, in public places, at work and behind domestic walls the brutal targeting and coerced coopting of women and girls in the refugee camps and conflict zones for sexual exploitation and violent extremism by terrorists, continue to sear our conscience.

All the more reason that we cannot fail to make this normative leap also a giant leap in changing the reality for 3.5 billion women and girls of the world. The remarkable normative unity of purpose and self-belief that a gender equal world is mission possible must now be translated into a giant leap of action in every country, city and village, in every community and household and within each of our minds and hearts.

There is now an unparalleled opportunity to finish what has been languishing for centuries – to end discrimination and violence against women and to acknowledge women’s equal right to dignity and humanity.